19 Starting Lineups

[JD1357]

I see all sorts of discussion about who's to blame for the Lakers lackluster year, but, imo, the answer comes down to bad luck. Injuries and protocol. That's it. It's impossible to judge a team or a coach or anything when you don't even have a consistent starting five. Some might blame the front office for getting old guys prone to injury...uh, okay.

Regardless, the Lakers have had 19 starting lineups...no line up has played more than 4 games together. Lebron has been out, AD is out, pretty much everyone has been out.

So my question is....what team, ever in the history of the NBA, has been any good under those conditions?

[Pythagoras]

My concern level has waned because of Lebron’s play as of late. The version of Lebron we’ve seen over the last few weeks is not the version we saw earlier in the season. With Lebron playing this well, just get AD and Nunn back, and add one more wing and the team should be fine.

[tamaraw08]

I see all sorts of discussion about who's to blame for the Lakers lackluster year, but, imo, the answer comes down to bad luck. Injuries and protocol. That's it. It's impossible to judge a team or a coach or anything when you don't even have a consistent starting five. Some might blame the front office for getting old guys prone to injury...uh, okay.

Regardless, the Lakers have had 19 starting lineups...no line up has played more than 4 games together. Lebron has been out, AD is out, pretty much everyone has been out.

So my question is....what team, ever in the history of the NBA, has been any good under those conditions?

My question is how many out of the 19 included DA Jordan?
Bad luck is certainly one of the reasons but not resigning Caruso was huge imo esp after losing KCP and Kuz imo

[JD1357]

Bad luck is certainly one of the reasons but not resigning Caruso was huge imo esp after losing KCP and Kuz imo

You really think if Caruso were still here, the team would be any different?

Last year, I recall people saying dump Kuz, dump KCP...maybe even dump Caruso. In the playoffs...no one stepped up.

"Alex Caruso averaged 5.8 points, 1.3 rebounds and 0.7 blocks in 6 games in the 2021 playoffs."

"Kyle Kuzma averaged 6.3 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 6 games in the 2021 playoffs."

"Kentavious Caldwell-Pope averaged 6.2 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.0 assist in 5 games in the 2021 playoffs."

[tamaraw08]

Bad luck is certainly one of the reasons but not resigning Caruso was huge imo esp after losing KCP and Kuz imo

You really think if Caruso were still here, the team would be any different?

Last year, I recall people saying dump Kuz, dump KCP...maybe even dump Caruso. In the playoffs...no one stepped up.

"Alex Caruso averaged 5.8 points, 1.3 rebounds and 0.7 blocks in 6 games in the 2021 playoffs."

"Kyle Kuzma averaged 6.3 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 6 games in the 2021 playoffs."

"Kentavious Caldwell-Pope averaged 6.2 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.0 assist in 5 games in the 2021 playoffs."

You might be focusing too much in offensive numbers and not their ability to defend multiple positions that helped them stay No. 1 in DRTG in spite of losing Lebron and AD for a combined 52+ regular season games. They are struggling to be decent on defense esp against decent teams. Caruso had an insane net positive with Lebron, defending hard while committing minimal mistakes, currently an integral part of the Bulls team.

[euphorbus]

When AD comes back, we might see: Davis, James, Bradley, Monk, Westbrook. The last four of those guys are learning to play well together. Under Coach Fizdale, there has been a lot more off-the-ball movement on offense, and more passing. If they can keep this up for four quarters on a consistent basis, and tighten the screws on defense, this could still be a very good Lakers team.

[Ball so hard]

Of course the answer is none. The last severe pandemic in recent history occurred around 1918 - well before the first NBA game was player. Your premise is a bit of a red herring. Is it bad luck if an injury were to occur after building a team around AD, Porzingis and any injury prone guard? There's at least a causal relationship between age (let's say 35+) and injury. Everyone knew this team was high risk in the injury department. If anything, i'd argue the opposite of that you posed. We were hoping to get lucky and avoid the injury bug; turns out we were neither unlucky nor lucky. My position is the FO should be blamed for this mess.

On another note, people are quick to dismiss the preseason as meaningless... and I agree it generally is. However, sometimes you can see trouble from a mile away after watching those early games. Much of what we're seeing now were evident in those preseason games. I've watched every one of those games and we were an absolute disaster... almost nothing looked right. IMO it was evident at that point how odd our pieces fit. Having watched those games I realized how bad Nunn is on defense. I can't wait for his return!

[JD1357]

Of course the answer is none. The last severe pandemic in recent history occurred around 1918 - well before the first NBA game was player. Your premise is a bit of a red herring. Is it bad luck if an injury were to occur after building a team around AD, Porzingis and any injury prone guard? There's at least a causal relationship between age (let's say 35+) and injury. Everyone knew this team was high risk in the injury department. If anything, i'd argue the opposite of that you posed. We were hoping to get lucky and avoid the injury bug; turns out we were neither unlucky nor lucky. My position is the FO should be blamed for this mess.

On another note, people are quick to dismiss the preseason as meaningless... and I agree it generally is. However, sometimes you can see trouble from a mile away after watching those early games. Much of what we're seeing now were evident in those preseason games. I've watched every one of those games and we were an absolute disaster... almost nothing looked right. IMO it was evident at that point how odd our pieces fit. Having watched those games I realized how bad Nunn is on defense. I can't wait for his return!

So you think this team would be an utter loser even if they had the same starting 5 the whole season?

[zimpy27]

My concern level has waned because of Lebron’s play as of late. The version of Lebron we’ve seen over the last few weeks is not the version we saw earlier in the season. With Lebron playing this well, just get AD and Nunn back, and add one more wing and the team should be fine.

I'm not so concerned but the team still needs role players.

A deep playoff run needs all 3 guys play 38 minutes each per game. 18mpg of all 3 and then 10mpg in pairs so that there are 2 on the court at all times. The 18mpg together would be first 6 minutes of each half and final 6 minutes of each game.

They still need 126 minutes played per game distributed amongst 5 players. I still don't really know who those players are yet.
Nunn, Ariza, Howard might be 3 of them. Who are the other 2? Monk? Melo? THT? Reaves? Stanley?

[Pythagoras]

My concern level has waned because of Lebron’s play as of late. The version of Lebron we’ve seen over the last few weeks is not the version we saw earlier in the season. With Lebron playing this well, just get AD and Nunn back, and add one more wing and the team should be fine.

I'm not so concerned but the team still needs role players.

A deep playoff run needs all 3 guys play 38 minutes each per game. 18mpg of all 3 and then 10mpg in pairs so that there are 2 on the court at all times. The 18mpg together would be first 6 minutes of each half and final 6 minutes of each game.

They still need 126 minutes played per game distributed amongst 5 players. I still don't really know who those players are yet.
Nunn, Ariza, Howard might be 3 of them. Who are the other 2? Monk? Melo? THT? Reaves? Stanley?

I think the 4 of those 5 guys could be: Monk, Melo, Nunn, and Stanley.

As for the last guy?

Dwight has value but the thing with traditional bigs like him, he’s going to be a very situational player, and there will be instances where he may not be playable.

I just don’t know how much Ariza has left in the tank. My expectations for him are low.

I think THT is a long ways from figuring it out. I think he can still be a solid player in the long run but this season I imagine he’ll continue to be inconsistent.

Really like Reaves and it wouldn’t surprise me if he proves himself a guy that can be a positive contributor with regular minutes.

It’ll be interesting to see who potentially becomes available in the buyout market. Thad Young and Dragic would both be fantastic adds if they’re bought out.

[Eric Bieniemy]

I don't think Davis and Westbrook should not play together.

I'd bring Davis off the bench when he returns to motivate him and platoon him with Westbrook, both guys getting around 24 minutes a game. Anthony and Valentine should also platoon getting 24 minute splits.

Monk, Reaves, and Nunn (when he's ready) should get all the guard minutes with Bradley picking up the scraps.

[zimpy27]

My concern level has waned because of Lebron’s play as of late. The version of Lebron we’ve seen over the last few weeks is not the version we saw earlier in the season. With Lebron playing this well, just get AD and Nunn back, and add one more wing and the team should be fine.

I'm not so concerned but the team still needs role players.

A deep playoff run needs all 3 guys play 38 minutes each per game. 18mpg of all 3 and then 10mpg in pairs so that there are 2 on the court at all times. The 18mpg together would be first 6 minutes of each half and final 6 minutes of each game.

They still need 126 minutes played per game distributed amongst 5 players. I still don't really know who those players are yet.
Nunn, Ariza, Howard might be 3 of them. Who are the other 2? Monk? Melo? THT? Reaves? Stanley?

I think the 4 of those 5 guys could be: Monk, Melo, Nunn, and Stanley.

As for the last guy?

Dwight has value but the thing with traditional bigs like him, he’s going to be a very situational player, and there will be instances where he may not be playable.

I just don’t know how much Ariza has left in the tank. My expectations for him are low.

I think THT is a long ways from figuring it out. I think he can still be a solid player in the long run but this season I imagine he’ll continue to be inconsistent.

Really like Reaves and it wouldn’t surprise me if he proves himself a guy that can be a positive contributor with regular minutes.

It’ll be interesting to see who potentially becomes available in the buyout market. Thad Young and Dragic would both be fantastic adds if they’re bought out.

Howard likely makes an appearance for matchups and energy off the bench.

I'm hoping just one of Monk or Melo, I can't imagine both playing and the Lakers being able to provide a playoff level defense.

I think Lakers need to at least have 4 locked in before buyouts happen. Picking up a buyout contributor would be very helpful.

[euphorbus]

Best lineup going forward:

AD
James
Reaves
Monk
Westbrook

Although I think Coach Vogel will probably continue with Avery Bradley at small forward and bring Reaves in off the bench.

[Pythagoras]

Best lineup going forward:

AD
James
Reaves
Monk
Westbrook

Although I think Coach Vogel will probably continue with Avery Bradley at small forward and bring Reaves in off the bench.

Vogel’s unwavering loyalty to Bradley is maddening. Reaves should absolutely at least get a chance to start.

[Ball so hard]

Best lineup going forward:

AD
James
Reaves
Monk
Westbrook

Although I think Coach Vogel will probably continue with Avery Bradley at small forward and bring Reaves in off the bench.

I don’t think any lineup with Russ on the floor is our best lineup. He’s best suited to come off the bench… I know unlikely to happen.

Best lineup is probably the following:
AD
Bron
THT/Johnson/Ariza in that order
Reaves
Monk

THT is not a great option, but he’s certainly better than those other bums we have. Also prefer to have THT play in any lineups that do not have Russ. I’ve said it a few times… Monk is exactly the kind of player we need at PG next to Bron.

[slifersd]

You can't call it bad luck when we have these injury and covid issues like every year. If we never accounted for the fact that AD can never stay healthy, that is called bad planning because the guy is injured every year.

[SweetTouch]

for whatever reason bradley is averaging 24 mpg , a guy no body in the league wanted

I just don't get it

how hard is it to get a young SG